Etymology

mignonette

mig·non·ette
M3I1G2N1O1N1E1T1T1E1

Today it means: A plant, Reseda odorata, having greyish-green flowers with orange-coloured stamens, and exhaling a delicious fragrance. In Africa it is a low shrub, but further north it is usually an annual herb. Full definition →

First used early 18th c.French mignonnette
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The story

  1. French · borrowed frommignonnette
  2. English todaymignonette

From French mignonnette, from mignon (“dainty”) + -ette (diminutive suffix).

Words from the same roots

Frenchmignonnette all →

mignonette sauce

First known use, by meaning

  • from early 18th c. A plant, Reseda odorata, having greyish-green flowers with orange-coloured stamens, and exhaling a delicious fragrance. In Africa it is a low shrub, but further north it is usually an annual herb.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.